10 Weeks to Improve your Artistic Career – Week 9

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Week 9: Exhibit your work

Exhibiting your artwork has endless benefits for your artistic career. You could say it is the most important things in building a solid practice! When you exhibit your artwork:

  • it is viewed by peers, clients, potential clients, fans of art, writers, curators, friends, etc
  • usually an exhibition involves working with other artists, and / or galleries, curators, or professionals in the artistic field and can give you excellent experience
  • you learn from your mistakes
  • you engage in dialogue about your work
  • it adds credibility to your CV. With exhibitions on your CV, you stand a better chance for receiving grants, scholarships, exhibition opportunities, residencies, and more.

Strangely enough, exhibiting their own artwork is one thing that a large number of artists do not do. There are many excuses why not to pursue exhibition opportunities for yourself, such as: Continue reading →

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10 Weeks to Improve your Artistic Career – Week 8

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Week 8: Take a class

Whether you are a self-taught artist or have earned a degree in the field, there are countless benefits to enrolling yourself in an art class. There is obviously the distinct possibility that you will learn new skills or methods of working, but there are other benefits to being in a classroom setting, such as:

1. It forces you to work. Expectations and deadlines are great motivators, and taking a class is an excellent way to make your art practice a regular part of your day.

2. You meet other artists. Art can be a solitary endeavor. When you enroll in a class, you will have the opportunity to meet like-minded people and perhaps even collaborate with them. Taking a class also usually gives you an intimate view of how other artists work, which is invaluable information to you as a practicing artist.

3. You discuss your work. If you are lucky, Continue reading →

Application Deadline: Vancouver Art Gallery | Art Rental and Sales Program

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May 31, 2012

The Art Rental and Sales Program at the Vancouver Art Gallery is currently accepting submissions of artwork from Canadian artists. Work accepted into the program is consigned for rental or sale, with partial proceeds going to the artist and partial proceeds benefitting the non-profit Vancouver Art Gallery.

The Art Rental and Sales Program is an excellent opportunity for exposure as well as possible sales. To request an application package, they ask that you email artrentalandsales.submission@gmail.com. General inquiries can be directed to manager@artrentalandsales.com.

Full information on submissions can be found here.

www.artrentalandsales.com

Image credit: Geoff Richardson, http://www.loose-marbles.com

10 Weeks to Improve your Artistic Career- Week 7

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Week 7: Seek out and learn from critical feedback

“The crit.” Are there any more cringe-worthy words for an art student or artist? Though their aim is to help, critiques of artwork have gained a terrible reputation.

Art can be deeply personal, which is why having it critiqued can be very difficult. Many artists just want to hear that their work is good, that what they are doing is validated. But when you think about it, what helps you to grow, improve, and push yourself more: simple praise or thoughtful criticism? Continue reading →

10 Weeks to Improve your Artistic Career – Week 6

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Week 6: Get your paperwork in order.

If you have ever submitted your artwork to an exhibition, gallery or contest, you probably already know that beyond your artwork, you are also responsible for providing specific paperwork relating to your artistic practice. The most common paperwork requests are for an artist statement, an artist CV, and a short written biography.

If you have these three items prepared in advance, you can update them regularly and save yourself a lot of stress when trying to meet a submission deadline. In general, they are great things to have on hand even if you are not submitting your work, as collectors, curators, or writers could ask to see them at any time. Continue reading →

10 Weeks to Improve your Artistic Career – Week 5

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Week 5: Fine-tune an artistic target, do your research, and act based on your findings.

This week’s project is more open ended than previous ones, but I believe it is very useful method that can work for almost anyone.

It is not uncommon to meet an artist who loves to make art, spends countless hours in the studio, and dreams of one day having their art displayed in a big public gallery. Or maybe to see their work sell in a big commercial gallery. Or perhaps on a beautiful website that gets tons of hits. The only flaw in this plan is that there is no plan.

Unfortunately, artists are not likely to be “discovered” based solely on their private artistic talent. For example, Continue reading →

10 Weeks to Improve your Artistic Career – Week 4

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Week 4: Take Advantage of Resources

The amount of free resources available to working artists today is quite staggering. The essentials of what you need to become a professional artist in both the artistic and practical realms are available for free– you just need to take the time to find them! I’ve compiled a list of many different sources in the hopes that this will assist you in your development as an artist.

Artists’ Legal Outreach Website

The Artists’ Legal Outreach is an amazing organization made up of volunteer lawyers and law students who provide legal support for artists working in Canada. They offer Continue reading →